Why Transylvania’s Menu Laws are Better

For the past week I’ve been traveling through Transylvania, Romania, a region famed for its agrotourism (and Dracula).

While looking at towering castles and pigging out on Romanian food—which is delicious and unlike any cuisine I’ve ever had—I noticed something interesting about the places I was eating at.

In every food service establishment, whether a bakery, sit-down restaurant, or fast food place, all of the ingredients in each food item were listed right underneath the item’s name on the menu/food label, along with allergens and nutritional values. This was the case in big cities and rural villages alike.

That’s right—Every dish on every menu had a full, easy-to-read ingredients list.

(above) An example of a typical menu item in Transylvania

Since 2023, Order 201/2022 by the Romanian National Authority for Consumer Protection has required all Romanian establishments that serve food to display this information. Even minor, “unattractive” ingredients like food dyes and sulfites are listed right on the menu where consumers can see them, so people know what they are eating.

A practice like this is sorely missing in the United States, where ingredients, allergens, and nutrition information are only required on packaged products in grocery stores, and food service establishments virtually never openly display this information on menus and labels (besides calories and allergens in a few places). This means that Americans only know what’s in their food when they eat at home, while eating out is essentially a black box. This is a major problem, especially given the fact that Americans eat out a lot; in fact, 55.7% of Americans’ food expenditures in 2023 were spent on food away from home.

The absence of easily-available information while eating out is bad for American consumers and for public health in general. When people don’t know what is in their food, it becomes much harder to make healthy decisions and have control over one’s diet. Oftentimes, even dishes that seem healthy can be packed full of added sugars, “bad” fats, and harmful additives without customers’ knowledge (think Caesar salad or sweetened yogurt)

The lack of information also stops the forces of supply and demand from naturally improving the quality of the food supply. Many consumers, myself included, would choose to avoid certain dishes when eating out depending on whether these dishes had unhealthy, unappetizing, or unnecessary ingredients. This, in turn, would likely lead some food companies to alter or improve their ingredients in order to appeal to more consumers. Increasing the availability of information would improve, rather than hinder, the functioning of the free market, likely leading to a healthier food supply.

(above) An example of something I chose not to buy after reading the ingredients list

A food labeling system like Romania’s is especially useful for people with food allergies or dietary restrictions. While some American menus list common allergens like dairy or shellfish, the practice is not uniform. Oftentimes dishes contain unexpected allergens (like how some French fries and sausages contain dairy), and the lack of information at most establishments can pose a risk to consumers. Often, even restaurant servers are unaware of the ingredients in the foods they serve. It can be near-impossible for consumers with serious dietary limitations to eat out safely; better labeling makes life simpler and safer for these people.

While eating out in Transylvania, I’ve seen that most foods have short, appealing ingredients lists, where additives and preservatives are rare, a likely byproduct of both their culture and their food information laws. Even many of the most gluttonous dishes here tend to be made with simple, unprocessed ingredients. When I see a dish with ingredients I don’t want to consume, I can easily choose to avoid it. And most dishes here are delicious.

I’ll have what they’re having.